A secret not to be found
by The Blue Moon Fairy
Summary: knowing something was following constance sent shivers down to her spine, but she had to gone, she had no choice.


**Disclaimer: as you will all know by now, I don't own any of these fabulous characters they belong to the amazing worlds of Jill Murphy and JK Rowling!**

**AN/ Well, I hope you enjoy, this popped into my head when I was bored. It is currently a one-shot although I may develop it later, depends whether it is liked etc... **

Only a month had passed since the staff of Cackles academy had put a stop to the noises which invaded every witch's dreams and minds throughout the night. Granted, the staff were not too sure as to what they had done to stop these noises, everyone simply assumed that it was down to their scary potions mistress and deputy headmistress Miss Constance Hardbroom, but she, herself was unsure of what had occurred Constance had put it down to Amelia solving the problem and either failing or forgetting to notify the rest of the school.

_**Constance was walking down a long dark tunnel, there were rats encircling her feet. As she lightly stepped through the wet, muddy and puddle-filled floor she heard something, as though something was creeping up behind her – preparing to strike. Constance quickly swung her body and lantern around to check every darkened nook and cranny in the passage, waiting a few moments, Constance reached her conclusion.**_

'_Nothing, it was nothing, merely a figment of your imagination. You're getting frightened in your old age, Constance.'__** She told herself before continuing onwards. To Constance every little sound was twice as loud as its true reality whether it was the scurrying of mice or the dripping of water hitting the puddles from the ceiling and this naturally put her on edge. As she reached the door that had been waiting all this time for her to find it, the same noise that she had heard earlier sounded through the walls of the academy once more. Constance froze - she could feel the warm breath on the back of her neck – sending shivers down her spine; what was behind her, who was behind her? Feeling the presence disappear once more Constance opened the door, fastening it behind her; she cautiously made her way over to the most ancient section of the secret library and raised her lantern to examine the books on the shelves. Upon seeing the book that she was searching for, Miss Hardbroom placed the iron lantern on the wonderfully engraved yet, cobweb filled table behind her she turned once more in order to reach the book from its shelf. It was at this point that the lantern flame blew its self out and the footsteps rang clear in her head. Not daring to turn around Constance's heart rate increased dramatically and breathing became short and shallow breaths rather than drawn out relaxed ones. The warm breathing on the back of her neck once again returned as a hand grasped her shoulder forcing her to turn around. Constance gasped as she recognised the face which she had now come to dread and even-more-so hate. **_

_**XXX**_

"Constance, Constance wake up!" Amelia called, removing her hand from her deputy's shoulder.

"Wha- what? Amelia, what on earth are you doing in here? And why is there an array of children standing at my bedroom door?" Hb asked confused.

"Erm... well... you see Constance, the scream was... erm... very, quite loud," Amelia said unsurely, why did she have to be the one to tell Constance this – what if her deputy turned her into a frog for the remainder of her life?

"The library," Constance whispered under her breath.

"What, what was that Constance?" before Amelia even realised what was happening her deputy sprung out from bed and materialised out of the room.

Grabbing a lantern from the wall, Constance sprinted as fast as she could down the dingy corridor, all the while fully aware of the heavy footsteps chasing after her. As she neared the door, she threw a lightning bolt at it – there was absolutely no time for fiddling about with keys. Constance slammed the door shut as soon as her slim frame was inside the dusty library and leaned heavily against the door, hoping that her pursuer would not be able to shift her weight as well as that of the door. Casting a spell at the door, Constance moved quickly over to the shelf in her dream – she had to hide the book – she couldn't let it get into the wrong hands. Constance placed her lantern on the same table which resided in her dream, as she reached the book and brought it down to her chest a hand creped over her shoulder and abruptly spun her around.

Constance gasped as she took in the once familiar face of melancholy, with her heartbeat increasing by the second; Constance made the book disappear before the man could see it.

The dark haired man eyed her with suspicion before asking in such a relaxed tone Constance felt even more uneasy about her current predicament.

"Constance, it's been too long, tell me," he glanced up to where the book once was "what have you done with the Mythiacopia?" Constance froze, he knew she had the book – there was no point lying.

"Severus, it's not been long enough, and why on earth would I let you and your pathetic ilk ever get near such a dangerous volume?" Constance was doing a brilliant job at hiding her fear of Snape until his hand moved quickly to her face and grasped her chin so that she couldn't pull away.

"Don't make me have to do this, Constance, just give me the book," he asked increasing the pressure on her chin.

"I have the book safe. You will never see it and you will never use it, now take your hand off of my face before I turn you into a tadpole for the rest of your miserable existence," Constance growled.

"You're clearly too stubborn to know what's good for you. You're coming with me."

"Wait – what?" Severus grabbed Constance's arms and pulled her back against his chest before materialising into thin air.

Instantly, the noise once again stopped, but at what price?

**AN/ Thank you for reading, my dears, I hope you enjoyed *crosses fingers***


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